By Max Jones
Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks
Miami, Florida – The Mavericks stopped the Heat’s winning streak at 12 as they beat them 98-96 Monday night.
Dirk Nowitzki led the Mavs scoring 26 points and Jason Terry added 19 points as they improved their record to 22-5. Dallas is currently at second place in the Southwest division behind league-lading San Antonio Spurs.
Dwyane Wade scored 22 points to lead the Heat while LeBron James and Chris Bosh added 19 points apiece. The Heat drops to 21-9 but still leads the Southeast division. Before the Heat went on to for a 12-game winning streak, it was also the Mavs who beat them 24 days ago.
It seems Dallas has the Heat’s number during the regular season as they beat the Heat for the 14th straight time. However, Dallas was not thinking about the streak coming in to the game.
“I don’t make a huge deal out of the streak,” Dallas head coach Rick Carlisle said. “We are just trying to play solid basketball and win as many games as we can” he added.
Dallas won by playing tough defense all throughout the game. They held LeBron James scoreless during the first half. It was a close game especially in the fourth quarter wherein the Heat continuously threatened to within a point but the Mavs never gave up the lead in the quarter.
“It was a very good game, a very hard-fought game,” said Dwyane Wade after the game. “It came down to them getting the breaks at the end that we didn’t get.”
The game also served as a debut of veteran Mike Miller for the Miami Heat. Miller, however, was not a factor for the Heat as he went scoreless on 0-of-4 shooting from beyond the three point line and grabbed only 3 rebounds.
The Dallas Mavericks were the spoilers of the season so far as they also stopped winning streaks of New Orleans at 8, Utah at 7 and Boston at 5.
